Christmas Weekend

Merry (belated) Christmas, everyone! I hope you all had a good Christmas. Let me share with you how mine went.

On Friday (Christmas Eve), I left for Seoul to stay over at Michelle's place. We were gonna take the bus down to Namhae at 9am the next morning, and she lives closer to the bus terminal than I; hence why I went to spend the night at her place.

We met up with Jennifer and Tracy at the bus terminal about 15 minutes before the bus left. When it was time, we all boarded and were on our way. Endless conversation, 3 stops and 5 hours later, we arrive to Namhae bus terminal. About an hour later, we arrived to the house we were gonna stay in. It was really nice! So, we relaxed, unpacked a bit, then had a little worship. Afterwards, we were taken down to a grocery store to buy a few things we would need for that night and the next day. Got back and cooked up a storm for dinner--which was great, by the way. I hadn't eaten like that in a while.

I wondered if there was going to be anything special that day, since it was Christmas, after all. Christmas is a big thing in Germany; but alas, most of the people who live there are Korean (Christmas is just another day in Korea).

At least one of the neighbors let out fireworks.

The next morning, I had to go and get the tickets back to Seoul (before they're sold out). In the meantime, the other girls were preparing themselves and breakfast--and our honored guest joined us! Justin is a 17 yr. old Korean high school student who helped us in the bus over to the German Village the day before. His English is excellent and he is really sweet. We were a bit surprised to know that he was actually coming; but it was all good.

So yeah, got the tickets, had breakfast, and the water went out (frozen pipes) so we couldn't clean the dishes or anything. The owner let us go without washing them, but we still had to leave. Just to make things easier, we took all our stuff with us (so as to not have to come back: we were at the top of a steep hill) and walked about 5-10 minutes to the Sunrise Art Village. We looked around and the stuff was nice.

Some of us wanted to go to the beach, but we didn't know how (the kid had left) and we didn't want to miss the only bus back to town. So, we walked back to the bus stop. We waited and talked for over an hour. The bus came and we took us to the terminal. After arriving, we decided to go out for lunch in the town. Afterwards; eating, returning to the terminal, and boarding the bus, we were back on the road.

Thanks to the snow that fell all over Korea, instead of 5 hours, the trip took 5.5 hrs. We left at 17:00, so we arrived in Seoul at 22:30-ish. I didn't think it wise to go home to Cheonan at that time and spent that night at Michelle's again.

On Monday, Michelle went to school and I made my way back home. Yes, this was a long and tiring trip, with a few unpleasant aspects and a disappointment or 2, but we still enjoyed it. Not sure I would do it again, though.

Whoa. That was long.

Enough talk!

Pictures!

I couldn't get many pictures of the apartment, but this is the living room.

Nice, huh?

The main highlight of the house: the cute little dog.

It really wasn't creepy. The picture kinda is, though.

Dinner. I was too hungry to care about taking proper pictures.

The Christmas tree on our porch.




After dinner, we went out for a walk in the freezing cold (freezing because of the wind). The following pictures are from said walk.

Yeah, I had the camera on "night" setting--hence the really bright flash.





The next morning, Tracy and I wanted to get up early to see the sunrise. Fortunately, the sun came up around 7:30, so it was early enough. (Remember, I've been waking up at 5:30).

The bulk of the pictures taken were during this time.

Ambulance? They didn't seem to be in much of a hurry.

The view from the top of the hill.

An attempt on a 180-degree angle.

The sun.

I like my surroundings.

The house behind the tree is where we stayed.

Yeah, it was that cold.

Hmmmm.

The one on the right is where we stayed. It's called the "Hamburger Haus" ("Hamburger" = German for "of Hamburg [city]").

Here I go again.

The neighbor and the light.

Hamburger Haus.

From the front of Hamburger Haus.

A new day.

Facing the new day.

The porch, from the side of the house, looking towards the front.

Cute doggie again.

The view at noon.

Heading downhill with Justin.

Passing by the main entrance to the German Village.

The sign again.

The closest to the real thing I can get (at the moment).

At the front yard area of Sunset Art Village.

Some paintings inside.

An artist among paintings.

Nothing important, just that it caught my eye.

Hey, I try.

Here, a seat saved just for you.

The front (and fountain) of the Sunset Art Village.

The Gazeebo.


Ok, my pictures of Namhae end here. Kinda sad that I didn't take more. Weird.

These I took as I was walking to the train station from Michelle's place.

Yeap, it's winter.

Overhead curve.

Impressive statue. Would be more impressive in a forest.

That's the end of my Christmas weekend. Surely, this will be my last post of 2010. Hope you all have a good New Year and be sure to come back and check on me next year!